This blog is mostly devoted to discussing educational policy issues and politics in Utah. This is meant to be a place to gather my research and thoughts into detailed explanations that hopefully add clarity to the discussion of public education. Many of the issues are multi-faceted and need to be examined thoroughly. Thus, some posts will be boring long. Come here looking for what I now understand. I will re-organize and readdress issues as I learn more.

Monday, June 2, 2008

A couple other interesting articles about the omnibus lawsuit with relevant quotes highlighted

I am adding these articles, and putting relevant text in bold underline as Curtis and Stephenson's stories change.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8951458House speaker defends bundled education billCurtis calls threatened lawsuit an attack on legislative powerBy Sheena McFarlandThe Salt Lake TribuneArticle Last Updated: 04/16/2008 09:04:38 PM MDT Bundling bills The Utah Constitution states "Except general appropriation billsand bills for the codification and general revision of laws, no billshall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall beclearly expressed in its title."Posted: 8:57 PM- Usually lawmakers close the doors for candid,emotional debates. Today, it was just the opposite as House Speaker Greg Curtisopened a closed-door Republican caucus to vent over a proposed lawsuitagainst an education bill that combined a dozen initiatives -including several that had been defeated - into a single measure. Some education proponents are planning to challenge the bill'sconstitutionality on grounds it violates a single-subject-per-billrequirement.But an animated Curtis said such a lawsuit would be a directassault on the power of the legislative branch. "There's an attack mentality that the Legislature did somethingwrong. There's a threat of litigation that would have the courtsdefine our single-subject rule," Curtis said to a roomful of HouseRepublicans. "I have great concerns with that because it's asignificant diminishment of legislative power to have the courtsdetermine that." He also said those who were pursuing the lawsuit were doing so for"political purposes." That brought Rep. Sheryl Allen to her feet to defend thelegitimacy of concerns some in the education community have with theomnibus bill. "I think a legislator or a group of legislators and certainlymembers of the public have a real question of the constitutionality ofthat bill," said the Bountiful Republican, who sharply disagreed withCurtis' criticisms. In a later interview, Kim Burningham, a state board of educationmember, acknowledged he has been involved in discussions concerningthe litigation, which he said should be filed within the week. "Whenever you lump a whole bunch of these things into one bill,and then almost use bribery to get legislators to vote for the fewthings they like in the bill even though they disagree with the rest,it's not good decision making," Burningham, a former legislator, said.He made it clear he was speaking only for himself and not the board. But legislative leaders argue they did not coerce anyone to votefor the bill. Rep. Ron Bigelow, House budget chairman, said leaders brought upthe bill several times in caucus, provided staff to help draftdifferent versions of the bill and did not cut off debate about theissues. "There were no attempts by staff, leadership or bill sponsors toput anything in the bill that you were unaware of," Bigelow said. "Itseemed to heighten the awareness and the focus on those issues." Curtis said the omnibus bill honored the constitutional provisionbecause all of the provisions included were aimed at a single subject:education. He claims opponents are playing politics. He points to the factthat many criticize the inclusion of a charter-school provision in theomnibus bill, but fail to mention funding for the InternationalBaccalaureate program "because they agree with the IB program gettingfunding," Curtis said.The bill's sponsor, Sen. Howard Stephenson, said he hopes to avoid passing more omnibus bills in the future. He said legislators combined bills this year to simplify the process so they could pass them all, in a coordinated way, before the end of the session. "If I had to do it over again and we had more time, I would avoidit," Stephenson said. "To have every issue stand on its own in aseparate bill is a good idea." smcfarland@sltrib.com -LISA SCHENCKER contributed to this report.

A group of 38 education leaders, legislators, former legislators andstate school board members say they will file a lawsuit today over anomnibus education bill lawmakers passed earlier this year. The group claims SB2, a bill that rolled more than a dozeneducation bills into one, is unconstitutional. They want to keep stateagencies from implementing several parts of the bill, mostly thosethat failed on the House floor or in committee before being broughtback to life as part of SB2. "Concerned citizens cannot know how to direct their participationwhen legislative proposals are falsely named or otherwise disguisedthrough omnibus 'Christmas Tree' bills and hydra-headed substitutionsin the last hours of a legislative session," the complaint says. SB2 sponsor Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said the complaintis political posturing. "I see this as nothing more than an attempt in an election year torally support for Democratic candidates and other non-conservativecandidates," Stephenson said. The plaintiffs include Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful; Rep.Rosalind McGee, D-Salt Lake City; Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City;Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City; Rep. Janice Fisher,D-West Valley City; Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City; eightformer legislators; former State Superintendent Steven Laing; and sixUtah State Board of Education members, among others. The complaint names as defendants Utah Attorney General MarkShurtleff, Utah Treasurer Edward Alter, and Jeff Herring, executivedirector of the Utah Department of Human Resource Management. Herring and Chief Deputy State Treasurer Richard Ellis saidWednesday they will administer the law as they're directed to untilthey're told otherwise. "By statute we are required to defend all state laws," said PaulMurphy, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. The complaint says the omnibus bill violates Article VI, Section22 of the Utah Constitution, which states, "Except generalappropriation bills and bills for the codification and generalrevision of laws, no bill shall be passed containing more than onesubject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title." Stephenson said all the measures in SB2 were on a single subject:education. Stephenson said if lawmakers passed laws the way theplaintiffs claim they should, they'd have to consider and coordinatethousands more bills. "It would create absolute chaos," said Senate Majority LeaderCurtis Bramble, R-Provo. The complaint also claims lawmakers held on to popular educationbills so they could later put them into an omnibus bill designed tobuoy less-popular bills. "The process that we followed wasn't as respectful as it shouldhave been of public input and for the public to be able to understandwhat was going on with that very complex bill that was shot out thelast three days," Allen said. Bramble, however, said legislative rules require lawmakers to holdon to most bills with fiscal notes until they have a budget. Allen said she voted in favor of SB2 in March because she worriedschools wouldn't get all their education funding if lawmakers voteddown the entire bill. She said she now regrets that vote. Fisher also voted in favor of SB2 in March. Other currentlawmakers listed as plaintiffs voted against SB2. House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and House Majority LeaderDavid Clark, R-Santa Clara, said in a statement they're disappointedthe matter will end up in litigation."We believe the courts have the right to review laws and stronglysupport that fundamental check and balance. However, we aredisappointed that the plaintiffs have rejected our offer ofcooperatively working toward solutions and have chosen as their first choice litigation," they said in the statement. Janet Jenson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said legislativeleaders never offered to ask for a special session to review certainparts of SB2, which she said is the only solution other thanlitigation at this point. "We are happy to meet with them, and the filing of the complaintdoesn't in any way affect their ability to ask the governor for aspecial session," Jenson said. "If they do that, we would be happy towithdraw the lawsuit." Chris Bleak, Curtis' chief of staff, said neither the plaintiffsnor their lawyers have ever asked for a special session. lschencker@sltrib.com

A group of legislators, ex-legislators and state education leadersplan to file a lawsuit today over SB2, which they claim illegallybundled separate education bills into one. The complaint seeks to keepparts of SB2 from going forward. Among them: * UPSTART, which would create a pilot, at-home, software educationprogram for preschool-age children. HB200, the orignal UPSTART bill,failed on the House floor before being rolled into SB2. * Extra state funding for International Baccalaureate (I.B.)programs. HB266, the original I.B. funding bill, failed in a Senatecommittee. * Changes to charter school funding. The original bill, HB278,failed on the House floor. * Supplemental pay for qualified math and science teachers. Theoriginal bill, SB35, died in a panel.